


Amazing Grace, Epilogue

by itstonedme



Series: Amazing Grace [6]
Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-03
Updated: 2009-08-03
Packaged: 2017-11-14 22:48:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/520313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itstonedme/pseuds/itstonedme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Conclusion to series about a migrant worker who meets a teenaged boy living in rural Tennessee with his father.  Originally posted on LJ in August 2009 <a href="http://itstonedme.livejournal.com/24108.html">here</a> with reader comments.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: A work of fiction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Amazing Grace, Epilogue

The next few months living on the open road were not an easy journey for either of them, but Elijah's presence had a unexpected benefit to Orlando's travels: the youth's wide-eyed innocence and shy demeanor proved more effective in securing them handouts at back stoops and a night's boarding in sheds and garages than before they'd met up. On the open road, Elijah was surprisingly self-sufficient, and he proved his proficiency with the shotgun and a fishing line, ensuring they managed to stay decently fed on their trek west. As the season passed into autumn, they were fortunate to hitch a railway car as it crossed the arid and baking Southwest. It was early November by the time they arrived in Los Angeles. 

Orlando found work as a stunt rider for Mascot Pictures in westerns that were being filmed in the valley. His photogenic presence eventually garnered him attention, earning him a costume fitting after he moved to MGM in 1936, and his fine cut in a tuxedo led to background work with occasional speaking parts. But his breakthrough didn't come until _Grand Hotel._ After its premiere, there were those in Hollywood who wondered who had been more beautiful up on the silver screen: Garbo or Bloom? 

As for Elijah, he landed a job in Hollywood as a runner soon after they arrived. He was a quick study for a boy with so little "book learning" and before long he had graduated to other studio jobs, including camera assistant. He saved his money so that he was able to hire a dialect coach to tame the accent from his speech. Within six years of his arrival in California, he left his job behind the lens in favor of work behind the microphone, becoming one of the most beloved voices in animation for the successful Walt Disney Company. He never returned to Tennessee, nor did he ever tell Orlando how close he had come the night they had left to a rope and a barn rafter. 

Orlando eventually married a popular comedic film actress, a union of desired convenience and enormous friendship that kept public scrutiny from disturbing the truth about each of their sexual predilections. He was a star until the Second World War, then lent his voice and presence to the war effort. He chose not to return to acting, moving instead into production and launching several studio startups that he eventually sold for considerable profit. 

True to his word, Orlando never did abandon Elijah. They did not become lovers until long after they had arrived in Hollywood, although if Elijah could have changed that, he most certainly would have. Instead, they became friends who loved each other, who held each other safe when memories and doubts proved too fierce to withstand, who encouraged the other's journey as the seasons circled the sun. They remained celibate until a time came when Orlando felt that Elijah had finally come into his independence and adulthood, and he took Elijah to his bed, having long ago taken him to his heart. It was tender and true, as one would have hoped. 

By the end of the century, when they were well into their 70s, the quiet domestic arrangement they had enjoyed for nearly 60 years no longer had to be hidden from the public eye. By then, of course, the world had moved on, and no one really was concerned about such things. 


End file.
